Actually, my five-year old daughter has a longer attention span than me.
Sometimes I wonder what on earth has become of me. I used to listen to Bach and Mozart and Palestrina and sing in choirs and have a season ticket to the orchestra and read a book a month at least, as well as a bunch of scientific papers, watch TV for hours at a stretch and have dinner parties where people tried to make intelligent conversation.
Well, stuff all that. Now it’s work, family and salsa.
My friend Nathan has the same issue. We did the middle-aged stuff in our twenties and now we live for our nights out on the town. My friend Dr. Rebecca too, who won the Gibbs prize for Biochemistry in our year at Uni – she’s out dancing 3 or 4 times a week, hooking up with Cuban hotties and whatnot…
I can’t watch TV for more than 30 mins without having to get up and see who’s on MSN. I prefer simultaneously to chat to my cousins on MSN, read blogs and post to my own, and watch Youtube videos than to watch TV. (I KNOW!!! What the heck?!)
And…gah…I haven’t finished reading a novel for ages. I can still read non-fiction, just.
I probably need a brain scan. I think the pod people have got me.
But you know what? I feel like Tom in that Tom&Jerry cartoon where Tom inherits a million dollars, on condition that he does no harm to a living creature, EVEN A MOUSE, and after struggling to restrain himself, he gives in and goes back to persecuting Jerry, saying “I’m throwing away a million dollars…BUT I’M HAPPY!”
Now. Who’s on MSN…?
6 replies on “I am becoming an airhead with the attention span of a five-year old”
Lol! You are now experiencing what I call the ‘full-of-it’ effect: you’ve done the rest, now you’re just topping up your mind with stuff that keeps you ticking over, happy. This is because you are writing and don’t need, or can’t take, anything else filling up your life – you just do what keeps you happy while you are doing it. Notice how the things you are doing are not necessarily totally fulfilling, or substantial. Like pieces of chocolate, they keep you going until the next fix, while the real stuff goes on in your head. It’s not a bad thing – on the contrary. There is just no room for major ‘mind’ stuff while you are writing.
I’m like that now – only watch CSI, or Most Haunted, the odd film, rarely anything else, but scour youtube for music and interviews, read blogs, and post a bit (coming back round to the idea again that I’m not a blogger!).
Your mind is telling you that you have something big in your life – your writing – that must take precedence.
Esruel, thanks for your insights. It certainly makes me feel less frivolous!
Alternatively it’s the Big Brother effect and your mind is truly on the way out. Wave bye-bye mind. Bye-bye!
I don’t even have the attention span to watch Big Brother!
Lol! Rich may have a point!!!
Actually, Maria, judging from your previous posts, I did kind of wonder where you’re writing was fitting in, and whether PC was about to sellotape you to your writing chair. It wasn’t my place to say, so I didn’t. But then I had a think, and realised I was doing more or less the same as you – without the publishing success, of course!
Just enjoy the ride! I’m sure you’ll take care of stuff along the way.
Yeah, you guys, laugh it up. As for sellotaping me to a chair, when I begged PC to ban me from Litopia to help me out, he refused!